LIFE OF THE PARTY |ELITE|

1.08

"Cordélia, I believe you know way more than you actually tell me."
"You know where I should be right now? With my friends and family, grieving our lost one. If you think I could have killed Marina, you've never been that wrong."

It had been half a week since the Embassy's reception, days where Cordélia was MIA, no one heard of her, no texts, no calls were answered nothing, until one day someone saw her grandfather walk into Las Encinas and the next day, Cordélia was back. No explanations, nothing, she just sat there in silence like nothing happened.
Cordélia had always grew up hearing people say that being rich was a synonym of happiness. Nice clothes, a villa, a chauffeur, and money is cool, but it doesn't create happiness. Having rich parents wasn't synonym of happiness. The girl's father had called her in the middle of the night, she had just got out of the hospital, he called her while being drunk, saying that she was a slut, just like her mother, and that he never loved her, nor a dead mother, and that she was a disgrace to their family, and a disappointment. And just like that, he was out of the country again. The usual. So, she just walked into class and sat in her seat without a word.

"Cordélia?"

The brunette turned to face Ander, bruises clearly visible on her face and he couldn't help but notice that she winced when she moved. She was obviously bothered by the whole world around her, and Ander's presence was only making it worse. The girl did not even understand why she had to go back to Las Encinas today, it was Friday for God's sake, couldn't it wait until Monday for her to go back to class and be questioned by her friends?

"Where were you? You were gone for most of the week, we were getting worried."
"Yeah, like you give a shit about what's happening to me lately."
'I care, I do, you know it, I..."
"No, Ander, I don't know, and you know why? Because ever since you told me you liked me you've been acting like a jerk.'
"I'm so sorry, I swear I..."
"I don't give a single shit, now shut the hell up, I want to listen."

Cordélia hated to fight with her friends, but she couldn't just let Ander crawl his way back to her like that, not after he ignored her for so long. Once Martín's class was over, she started packing her belongings to go to the library when someone took her in their arms unannounced. The girl immediately relaxed when she recognized Guzmán's cologne, she hugged him back, finally feeling at home again after the horrible past few days that she had.

"I was so worried. I swear to God I was going crazy when you didn't come home from the Embassy, and then out of the blue my dad gets this call from the British Ambassador telling us that your dad almost beat you to death. I feel so bad, I shouldn't have let you go alone, you..."
"Guz, would you mind breathing for a second? I should have listened to you, I'm sorry, but I'm fine now, I swear."
"Your grandpa sent your chauffeur to pick up your things."
"I know, my dad left again with his new fiancée, so the house is safe again."
"But what if he comes back?"
"Grand-Père hired someone to guard the entrance of the house, you can't come in if you're not on the list, and my father isn't on it. I know he'll be back one day or another, but not so soon, not when other diplomats are aware of what happened."
"I'm glad you're back, Lia, and that you're okay."
"So am I, Guzmán, so am I."

The thing was that the French girl wasn't okay, either physically or mentally, she had never felt this bad in her entire life. She hated that so many people knew about this drama, it would only anger her father, and she feared the consequences. The brunette was nostalgic of much simpler times when they were all happy in Greece, her father, her mother, Louis, and herself, it might not have been perfect, but she missed those years.
Cordélia had her head buried inside her locker as she was desperately looking for her laptop, how the hell could one lose a laptop in such a small space? At this point, her usually perfectly tidied locker now looked like a war zone, something that her cousin Daniel could confirm. It was driving her crazy, the French girl always put her things back at the exact same place, and now it was a mess. She needed that fucking laptop because all she wanted was to go back home and lay on her bed for the next 24 hours.